Flying fish apocalipse

If you haven't seen one of the Asian jumping carp videos yet, take a look at this--the fish that makes ecological disaster fun!

Posted on youtube by dorlandtgroup at http://youtu.be/F37GA8I3gBQ.  

 I don't know where this was shot.  There are lots of jumping carp videos, from different parts of the Mississippi River basin, none from the Great Lakes--yet.  The fish is the silver carp, which has been introduced to and is well-established in the Mississippi and is working its way north. These aren't small fish; according to the Wikipedia entry, silver carp "can grow to over 40 lb (18 kg), and can leap 10 ft (3 m) in the air. Many boaters traveling in uncovered high-speed watercraft have been injured by running into the fish while at speed."

I can't stop watching these videos: they show dozens or hundreds of fish jumping, and people in open motorboats being pelted with fish.  I've seen one with a little kid standing in shallow water, surrounded by tiny jumping fish, and one with kids on water skis, in carp-hunting costumes, trying to hit fish with swords.  There are a couple of videos in which the guy holding the camera can't stop laughing, and in some the scene jolts once in a while as the cameraman is hit by a fish.

And, of course, the silver carp has a terrible effect on the environment.  I suppose the videos won't seem as funny if the fish ever get to the Sacramento River.

PVC camera stand part 2

The stand is designed to use parts that are already available at home.  Using more or fewer of the commonly available PVC fittings from the hardware store, the design could be made simpler or more complex, and there are probably hundreds of variations on this design that will work.  And with extra parts, I could add a paddle rest, for instance, or a cup holder, or a small water cannon (connected to the bilge pump), or a soap bubble generator, or a beer dispenser (since the white PVC is food-safe), or some kind of Rube-Goldberg contraption that's completely impractical but looks cool.

The two tees in the center\right in the photo and the pipe that joins them aren't going to be glued.  The tees have to be able to rotate to adjust the camera's position.  I expect to be able to remember to check the stand when I adjust it to make sure the upright tee is sufficiently tight.  The parts could be joined internally or externally (with elastic cord, thick string, whatever) to make sure it all doesn't come apart at some inappropriate time.

The latest stand with the invisible camera tilted up.

The stand in the above photo has a glued crosspiece to keep the two halves from separating.  The end caps (on the left side) are there because using caps was easier than gluing foam into the ends of the fittings.  A pair of right-angle elbow fittings would have worked better, but I didn't have any extras to use.

The right-angle elbow fittings on the aft end of the stand (near the cockpit) are there to raise it enough that the lower center tee isn't resting on the lengthwise ridge on my kayak's deck, which would keep the thing from being level.

The stand on the kayak.

The plug has been improved slightly: a wide, small diameter rubber band (from a bunch of broccoli) is wrapped around the lip on the outside end of the plug (it probably should be glued on), which makes it a lot easier to grip with wet hands.  Something like the cap of an aspirin bottle, or some other plastic disk with knurled edges, glued onto the end might serve the same purpose.

On the adapter, the nylon screw is pushed thru a tight-fitting rubber bumper, which provides a good grip for putting the screw into the camera.  A wing nut secured with a regular nut would also work.  There's a nylon washer between the bumper and the bushing so the screw can be turned without turning the adapter.  The inside of the bushing is filled with neoprene and sealed with RTV to keep water out, and there's a nut on the screw to keep it from sliding out of the adapter.

The plug and the adapter.

 On top of the bushing is a rubber gasket that I found in my toolbox--it provides a much better grip on the bushing.  There's a rubber washer at the end, which fits tightly over the end of the screw so that it won't fall off when I'm not looking.

The camera-to-stand adapter, and the tee plug.

The adapter works pretty well: there's enough friction to keep camera from twisting on the adapter when it's help sideways, but not so much that the camera can't easily be turned by hand.  The bumper makes it easy to take the adapter on or off the camera with wet hands, and the rubber gasket makes it easier to get out of the tee.

The stand worked pretty well on it's trial run.  I made some changes to the plug and adapter (as above), and I'll probably leave it at that.

A still shot with the Optio WP on the camera stand.

 I'm going to upload a few trial (and low-quality) videos to youtube, like this one:

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLjYMbWFl9U.

Kayak camera stand

This is a homemade camera stand made from leftover stuff from other projects.  I plan to use it for shooting video with a compact camera while paddling the kayak.

It's made to be inexpensive and easy to assemble, with measuring, cutting, and drilling all kept to a minimum (I didn't feel like trying to clear off my workbench).  The camera can held horizontally (in landscape position) or vertically (portrait position) and can be adjusted to point left and right, and tilted up and down.  The stand will also float if it has to.

The bare PVC camera stand.

The material is 3/4" PVC pipe and PVC fittings (all available at Home Depot, OSH, etc.), a nylon screw, neoprene scraps, and rubbery plastic foam packing stuff.  The pipe and fittings would be glued with PVC cement if I had any--I'm going to use Plumber's Goop instead.

The stand is held in place by the forward deck rigging, or by a bungee cord (the red one in the photos), or both.  The camera is attached to an adapter, a ¾"-½" PVC reducer bushing, which is shoved into the top or side of the uppermost PVC tee fitting, as shown in the photos.

The stand under the deck rigging with the camera held vertically.

The open hole in the upright (uppermost) tee has a plug in it to keep water out.  Neither the adapter or the plug is fixed in place--they should be pushed into the tee with enough force that they'll stay put, and loosely enough that they can be removed by hand.  I suppose they could be kept in place with hitch pins in rough conditions.

The stand with the camera held horizontally.

The camera is attached to the adapterwith a 1/4" nylon screw.  I could have used a plug or an end cap instead of the bushing to make the adapter, or I could screw the camera onto a tee (and move the tee to change the camera's position).  I used the bushing because I couldn't find a plug or a cap.

The camera attached to the PVC adapter.

The thing on the end of the adapter is a spacer for the screw, a sort of a thick rubber washer that was meant to be put on the bottom of a small appliance.  It's not necessary--I used it because it was handy.  The black stuff is scrap neoprene, and isn't necessary or even, as it turns out, a good idea.  Eventually I'll find some kind of thin rubbery gasket for the top of the adapter, and a nylon or stainless steel washer for the bottom, and I'll cut the screw to the correct length.

Plugs and the camera-to-stand adapter.

The 3/4" PVC pipe is either the thick-walled or thin-walled stuff, depending on what was handy.  It's probably a good idea to use the thicker pipe since the thin pipe can break.

The pipe is plugged at one or both ends with some expanded rubbery plastic packing foam, which is sealed with RTV silicone.  These plugs are the "bulkheads" that keep the stand from filling with water (and possibly sinking) if it gets broken.

The pipe (on the right) plugged with foam.

I'm going to post the other details later.